G7, G8, G19, G20 Who’s In Who’s Out

Russia has been booted out of the G8. It’s a big deal, and now it’s a G7, so what is the G8, or the G7, or the G8+5 or the G20, and is it the G19 now? And what does the G stand for anyway?

Let’s start with the easy bit, G stands for “Group”, yes it’s that simple, this is a group, not a non-governmental organisation, just a group. There’s no organisation, no offices, no staff. Think of it like the most powerful book group in the world, except people don’t talk about books, they talk about issues that affect everyone on earth.

It was a group of 6 when it started out, the six biggest economies on the planet in 1975:

France

WestGermany

Italy

Japan

United Kingdom

United States

ThenCanadawas invited along, because Canadians are nice. Russiajoined in 1998, but are sitting it out on the naughty step right now. The EUgets a seat, but isn’t included in the number, four of the countries already come from the EU. That G8 group accounted for half of the world’s GDP.

Then there was a +5, taking account of some of the fast growing and hugely populous countries.